Podcasts Archives • NC Newsline

Emily Mason(Photo: Environment NC)

Despite the efforts of the Trump administration and climate change deniers, solar energy continues to make enormous strides around the world and is quickly becoming our most efficient and affordable source of power generation. Simple economics are making it so.

That said, there are still many things that our elected leaders can and should do to make this transition go even faster and a new report from the nonprofit research group Environment NC highlights one that deserves attention. According to “Solar Schools for North Carolina,” our state could make enormous strides in both reducing fossil fuel pollution and saving long-run energy expenses by simply installing solar panels on the roofs of its 2,400 public schools. And recently to learn more, NC Newsline caught up with Environment NC advocate, Emily Mason.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Environment NC advocate Emily Mason.

Noel Nickle (Courtesy photo)

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the last time the state North Carolina put a person to death in punishment for a crime. And despite the many deep flaws in the death penalty – huge costs, systemic racism, convictions of innocent people — and fact that this moratorium has not led to any increase in violent crime – indeed the rates are down significantly – death penalty supporters are trying to restart executions.

Meanwhile, as executions remain on hold, more than a 120 people sit on the state’s death row at great expense and prosecutors in some counties are looking to add to that total. Recently, in order to get a better understanding of this confusing situation and whether there’s a path forward in which North Carolina can join the national and global abolition trend, NC Newsline sat down with the executive director of the North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Noel Nickle.

Click here to listen to the full interview with North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty executive director Noel Nickle.

Jason Husser (Photo: Elon.edu)

If you pay any attention to politics and elections you know that the coming weeks will feature an avalanche of so-called horse race polls that test and report on the strength of various candidates as we head toward the fall midterm election. At such a time it becomes easy to think of North Carolinians as being sharply divided into two political camps based on their partisan affiliation or candidates of choice.

Click here for the full interview with Elon University Poll director Jason Husser.

Former NC Court of Appeals Judge Chris Brook

If there’s a branch of North Carolina state government that’s undergone the largest transformation in recent decades – both in its role and its make-up – it’s likely the state courts. Thanks in large part to an aggressive effort spearheaded by Republican legislators and funders, a combination of law changes and the dedication of millions of dollars in campaign spending have combined to make the state’s judiciary vastly more partisan and our judges more ideologically divided.

That said, it’s also true that even as this transformation has proceeded, the courts remain an institution about which many, many North Carolinians have only the most rudimentary understanding. And it’s in light of this fact that Newsline recently sat down with one of our state’s most knowledgeable experts on the courts – attorney, scholar and former appellate court judge Chris Brook. And as you’ll hear in the following two-part conversation with Brook, people who care about the state’s current situation and its future would do well to learn more about the make-up of our appellate courts and the upcoming elections that will shape their memberships.

Click here for the full interview with former NC Court of Appeals Judge Chris Brook

Meredith College political scientist and pollster David McLennan (File photo)

As anyone who’s watched a college or professional sporting event in recent years is well-aware, the rapid spread of online gambling has brought transformative – and many would say deeply troubling – change to what has long been one of the most important social institutions in our country. In just a very few years, sports gambling has gone from an unlawful underground activity into a huge and ubiquitous business run by giant corporations.

So, what do average North Carolinians make of this rapid change in our society and how it’s affecting the people – a high percentage of them young men – for whom it has become a big and expensive part of their lives? Recently, veteran pollster David McLennan – the long-time director of the Meredith College Poll – conducted a new survey to examine these issues, and this past week, he joined me for an extended two-part conversation to discuss some of his findings.

Click here to listen to the full interview with veteran pollster David McLennan.

Keith Poston, Wake Ed Partnership (Courtesy photo)

All across North Carolina, students, parents and teachers are preparing for the start of a new school year and, unfortunately, one of the most vexing challenges that’s accompanied this time of year for the last several is the struggle many public school teachers face in properly equipping their classrooms. Thanks to the state legislature’s serial underfunding of basic things like school supplies, teachers in our state typically resort to spending an average of more than $1,600 of their own funds per year just to get their classrooms up to snuff.

It’s a maddening situation but for now – at least here in Wake County – an excellent and inspiring partial solution has been provided by the private nonprofit Wake Ed Partnership. Thanks to the group’s Tools-4-Schools program, hundreds of Wake County teachers will be able to collect the classroom materials they need at no cost over the coming days, and recently to learn more about the program and how listeners can help out, Newsline caught up with Wake Ed Partnership President Keith Poston.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Wake Ed Partnership President Keith Poston.

Inside Climate News reporter Lisa Sorg

One of the most worrisome challenges to human health to emerge in recent decades has been the growing environmental omnipresence of a class of chemicals known as PFAS. Often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down naturally and can remain in soil and water indefinitely, PFAS are used in countless consumer products.

One of the best known is a chemical known as GenX. It gained widespread notoriety a few years back when it came to light that a factory run by the chemical company Chemours had been spewing large quantities of GenX into air and water from its factory in southeastern North Carolina. One of the journalists who’s been on the GenX beat from the beginning is Inside Climate News reporter Lisa Sorg and recently NC Newsline caught up with Lisa for an extended chat in which examined two recent and important legal and regulatory developments on the subject of GenX and PFAS and why both have left a lot of people frustrated and dissatisfied.

In Part One of our extended conversation, we discussed the environmental problems posed by so-called forever chemicals or PFAS. We also discussed a pair important new developments in the legal and regulatory spheres on the subject – the settlement of a large lawsuit brought by more than 2,500 property owners impacted by PFAS pollution in southeastern North Carolina and a move by the Trump administration to settle a regulatory proceeding targeting the source of that pollution – a company called Chemours.

In Part Two of our chat, we dug deeper into these subjects and why both settlements have left a lot of people very dissatisfied. And we also learned a little about another important subject Sorg is covering – the bankruptcy filing of a Durham-based company that purported to be helping to clean up the environment but has been accused of perpetrating a ripoff of utility ratepayers.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Inside Climate News reporter Lisa Sorg.

Western Carolina University political scientist Chris Cooper

With the 2026 midterm elections less than 100 days away, it a great time to check in with one of the state’s foremost experts on politics and elections, Western Carolina University Professor of Political Science, Chris Cooper.

This past week, Newsline got a chance to catch up with Cooper for an extended conversation in which we delved into an array of front burner topics. In Part One of our chat, we focused on the issue of our elections, themselves – how they’re run, how President Trump has repeatedly sought to sow distrust in their honesty and how they’re run, and how Trump’s Republican allies in North Carolina have taken a number of recent actions that they say will improve voting and elections, but that critics argue are really just thinly disguised efforts to discourage participation by voters the GOP fears will vote for Democratic candidates.

In Part Two of our conversation, Cooper shared some of his thoughts on the career of longtime South Carolina U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham in light of his recent passing, as well as his take on the state of two high-profile North Carolina races on the ballot this fall – the U.S. Senate Race between Roy Cooper and Michael Whatley and western North Carolina congressional race between Chuck Edwards and Jamie Ager.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Western Carolina University political scientist Chris Cooper.

Director of Development and Communications Sara Walker and main office Home Delivery Site Manager Melissa Evers

One in four Americans is 60+ and one in two lacks the income to pay for basic needs. That’s where “Meals on Wheels” makes a difference serving 13 million seniors nationwide. Recently, NC Newsline sat down with two staff members from the Wake County operation: Director of Development and Communications Sara Walker and main office Home Delivery Site Manager Melissa Evers.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Sara Walker and Melissa Evers of Wake County Meals on Wheels.

Rep. Marcia Morey (D-Durham) (Photo: NCGA)

State Rep. Marcia Morey of Durham County is one of the many experts who’ve expressed concerns about how the state budget debate played out.  While she’s happy about raises that some teachers will get, she’s concerned about those teachers and state employees who will receive a relative pittance.

And as Morey also pointed out to Newline during an extended conversation this past week, there were a lot of other very important (and in some instances deeply concerning) provisions in the budget – some of which have only come to light in recent days as she and other lawmakers and advocates have finally gotten a chance to fully dissect the hurriedly enacted 600-plus page document.

In Part Two of our discussion, we examined some other policy matters of importance as the legislature prepares to return to Raleigh in late July, including the recent and troubling spate of late-night teen takeovers in some communities that have raised discussion of issues like curfews and gun regulation, as well as ongoing Republican efforts to further alter state voting laws and election oversight for partisan purposes.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Rep. Marcia Morey.